Newspaper Research Firm Belden Going Out of Business

By: Mark Fitzgerald Belden Associates -- which provided newspapers with proprietary marketing, editorial and circulation research for 68 years -- is going out of business, Chairman and CEO Sammy Papert announced in a newsletter sent to clients Wednesday.

"We've reluctantly concluded to discontinue operations while we can do so in an orderly fashion and, to the best of our abilities, take care of clients, colleagues and all Belden stakeholders," Papert wrote. "The simple truth is that we were barely fulfilling the fundamental goal of any business -- that is, to provide products and services which customers value (Are delighted by? Love?) at a fair price."

Far from investing in research to "understand existing audiences and identify new ones" in tough times such as these, Papert said, there has been a "declining appetite" for proprietary audience research in recent years.

"This will likely last and some have even suggested it will decline to, and reach, zero!" he added. "With such handwriting on the wall, the actual decision to put a great brand to bed was not as difficult as expected, but the execution of such a decision was fraught with anguish, sadness and melancholy that permeate still."

Papert said it would make no sense to invest time and money in creating a downsized Belden.

Belden expects to have its final reports and other research deliverables sent to clients by the end of the month, he added.